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Seika Izawa defends atomweight title against Combate Global’s Claire Lopez at Bellator x RIZIN 2 in July

nbcsports.com
·2 min read

Seika Izawa

The Bellator x RIZIN co-promotion is about to add another company to the party: Combate Global.

On Thursday, MMA Fighting confirmed that RIZIN super atomweight champion Seika Izawa will defend her title against Combate Global strawweight Claire Lopez on the upcoming Bellator x RIZIN 2 card, set for July 30 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The title fight is set for the RIZIN portion of the card.

Undefeated at 10-0, Izawa is one of the best mixed martial artists competing in the world today and is currently No. 17 on the MMA Fighting Global pound-for-pound rankings. Izawa had a sensational 2022, claiming the super atomweight title after a pair of wins over champion Ayaka Hamasaki (the first was a non-title bout), and she then rattled off three more wins to claim the 2022 RIZIN Super Atomweight Grand Prix, the final bout of which was held at the first Bellator x RIZIN card on Dec. 31.

This is Izawa's first fight for the promotion in 2023, though the 25-year-old did submit Suwanan Boonsorn at Deep Jewels 41 in May.

Lopez has spent the past few years as a one of Combate Global's best strawweights, racking up a 3-1 record in the promotion with two first-round finishes. However, most recently, Lopez jumped over to RIZIN where she submitted 2017 Super Atomweight Grand Prix Finalist Rena Kubota with a kneebar at RIZIN Landmark 5 in April. The 34-year-old French fighter is 8-4 overall in her MMA career.

The Bellator portion of Bellator x RIZIN 2 is headlined by a Bellator Lightweight Grand Prix bout between A.J. McKee and Patricky Pitbull, and it will also feature a fight between Kyoji Horiguchi and Makoto Shinryu for the inaugural Bellator flyweight title. The RIZIN portion of the card features a vacant bantamweight title fight between Kai Asakura and Juan Archuleta.

Seika Izawa defends atomweight title against Combate Globals Claire Lopez at Bellator x RIZIN 2 in July originally appeared on NBC Sports